Threat letter to judge: Madras High Court turns down urgent mention by lawyer

The Madras High Court on Monday did not allow an urgent mention by a lawyer seeking stringent action against people behind an anonymous letter threatening Justice M Sundar, allegedly over his judgment against the Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker’s order in the 18 MLAs disqualification case.

“We cannot interfere in the matter. Police will take care of the issue,” the first bench, comprising Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice P T Asha, said.

An anonymous letter was allegedly sent to Justice Sundar, threatening him and his family with dire consequences following his verdict in the disqualification case. On June 14, Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice Sundar differed in their opinion and delivered a split verdict. Banerjee had refused to interfere with the Speaker’s order but Justice Sundar had set aside the disqualification order passed by the Speaker on the grounds of mala fide and lack of natural justice. Subsequently, the senior-most judge next to the chief justice, Justice Huluvadi G Ramesh, appointed Justice S Vimala as the third judge to decide the case.

Aggrieved over the choice of the judge, one among the 18 disqualified MLAs moved the Supreme Court, seeking to transfer the hearing of the case to itself. On June 27, a vacation bench of the Supreme Court refused to transfer the case to itself and nominated Justice M Sathyanarayanan as the third judge and directed the petitioner to withdraw all allegations against the judges.

Justice Sathyanarayanan commenced his hearing on July 5 and allotted July 23-27 for the parties to submit their arguments.